Florida’s most-blinged Camaro ZL1 brings out the haters in force

To paraphrase Rene Magritte, this is not a car. Yes, it is a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 convertible, and it has an engine which can turn those 30-inch Forgiato gold saucers into forward motion. But the transformation by a Tampa tuning shop into what it calls the King ZL1 has placed the Camaro into the kind of debate heard around avant-garde galleries: Is it a piece of art, or a piece of garbage?

Built and shown by 813 Customs, the King ZL1 follows a similar effort on a less-powerful King Camaro unveiled earlier this year. Both required a near-complete teardown and reassembly, with bespoke fiberglass dash and door pieces to handle a Radio Shack's worth of speakers and monitors, including the three 23-inch TVs that pop up from the back seat. The outside gets a gold-chrome vinyl wrap, and the 6.2-liter V-8 also gets a brace of upgrades, such as a Whipple supercharger, that can never be used in anger thanks to custom-painted 30-inch Forgiato Maschili wheels that make the Camaro like Lolo Jones running hurdles in spike heels.

As someone who spends a lot of time reading what people say on the Internet about cars, I can safely say the King ZL1 has stirred a more heated reaction than any other vehicle I've seen in quite a spell. Camaro fans take their cars seriously, and the idea of turning a ZL1 into a slow-rolling rec room enrages many; one commenter called it "the murder of this American muscle car." The Facebook page of 813 Customs was so filled with invective, including some blatant racism, that the company's owner had to respond, noting that he's paid to build cars even when they're not to his personal taste:

NO I have not seen blatant racism on the internet, oh wait I was watching a video of a small jet taking off yesterday and the comments somehow spiraled into a long argument with racism in it. Jeez I just wanted info and then they go off about politics then naturally into racist remarks along with that, sigh.